ROME – Pope Benedict XVI met with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday at a time of strained relations between Islam and Christianity over global terrorism, the Iraq war and the lack of religious freedoms for nearly 1 million Roman Catholic migrant workers living in the Persian Gulf state.

It was the first meeting between a sitting Saudi monarch, who also oversees Islam’s holiest shrine at Mecca, and the head of the Catholic Church. The talks in the pope’s Vatican library came a year after comments by Benedict in regard to Islam ignited a furor across the Muslim world and setback inter-religious efforts by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

It was not clear if the 30-minute conversation between the two leaders, both octogenarians draped in pressed robes, rose beyond the symbolic. The Vatican has urged the Saudis to loosen religious restrictions in the kingdom, which forbids non-Muslim religious services and icons such as crucifixes. Many migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, most of whom are Filipinos working as maids and laborers, attend mass in private homes.

The Vatican media office said the meeting was cordial and “provided an opportunity to consider questions close to the heart” of both sides. The statement said that Vatican officials wished for the prosperity of all peoples living in Saudi Arabia while speaking of “the positive and industrious presence of Christians.”

Saudi Arabia and the Holy See do not have formal diplomatic relations; the country’s practice of strict Wahhabi Islam opposes close ties to Christian organizations on Saudi soil.

The meeting and handshake between the king and the pope offered encouragement to resolving the religious and political turmoil across the Middle East. The Vatican statement said the two leaders stressed the “importance of collaboration between Christians, Muslims and Jews for the promotion of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values.”

Relations between Christianity and Islam have become sensitive since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Christian clergy have complained that Muslim religious leaders have not spoken forcefully enough against Islamic radicals. In Europe, the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations are facing falling church attendance at the same time mosques and Islamic schools are being built to meet a growing population of Muslim immigrants.

Maria De Cristofaro reported from Rome and Jeffrey Fleishman from Cairo.